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FORWARD OPERATING BASE HONOR, Iraq: As a member of a military transition team, 1st Sgt. Joseph McFarlane spends the majority of his days training and advising members of the Iraqi Army.
During the three month that he's been in Iraq, McFarlane, the noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division's MiTT, said he has seen a great deal of progress by Iraqi soldiers. But one area he and his teammates would like to see more improvement in is the development and strengthening of the Iraqi Army's NCO corps.
“They have such a lack of NCOs in their ranks. We're trying to make them stronger,” he said.
To do this, members of the 4th Sqdn., 9th Cav. Regt., MiTT recently demonstrated to the to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, how the NCO promotion system works.
“We conducted a mock promotion board under the American standard for the 5th Bde. IA, so they can see an example of how we promote Soldiers to sergeants and sergeants to staff sergeants,” McFarlane said.
For the Iraqis to strengthen their NCO Corps, they must first understanding the process of becoming an NCO,” he said. “Their promotion system is not necessarily based on performance or potential like the U.S. Army. Most of their promotion system has been based on nepotism, or family.”
Before beginning the mock board, 4th Sqdn., 9th Cav. Regt., top NCO, Command Sgt. Major James Daniels, briefed the Iraqis on what they were going to see and on some of the prep work that a Soldier goes through before appearing before a board. Soldiers typically spend days studying military subjects, for example.
Soldiers are expected to be nervous in front of the board, but how they handle this stress is one of the main things the board members are interested in, Daniels said. Military bearing, appearance, the amount of confidence demonstrated, as well as having the knowledge to answer the variety of questions are all aspects that are taken into consideration when a Soldier appears before the promotion board.
Iraqi troops then observed a mock board as Staff Sgt. Buakai Tamu entered the room and reported to Daniels. After performing the requested facing movements and reciting the Soldier's Creed, Tamu was asked one question by each board member.
The Iraqi Soldiers appeared to be receptive and asked several questions throughout the process.
Command Sgt. Major Makki Abid Zaid Mouammad said that being able to see how the process works helped give him a better understanding of it, and that he hopes to implement a similar promotion system for his Soldiers.
Daniels also stressed that just because a Soldier is selected for promotion to sergeant doesn't mean that the continuing development of that Soldier stops. Throughout his career, an NCO will continue to go to various schools offered by the NCO Education System, Daniels told the Iraqis.
This focus on educating NCOs is what makes the U.S. Army so strong, according to McFarlane.
“At every level Soldiers get promoted they're going to another school,” McFarlane said. “We're trying to instill that into the Iraqi Army. Education is the key.”
(Sgt. Robert Yde writes for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs.)”
